17. A major trend in the waste trade is to package waste trade deals as recycling or reuse proposals. Of the 55 regional waste trade schemes reported in the inventory above, a full 64% masquerade as, or claim to involve, some form of recycling or "development" pretext. Many waste traders try to tailor their schemes to the particular needs of the area where they would like to dump their wastes.

18. For example, many countries in the Caribbean region suffer from acute shortages of electricity and roads. Consequently, a host of waste traders have tried to persuade them to build toxic waste incinerators which would presumably produce electricity (along with toxic air emissions and ash), or use existing incinerator ash, (along with its heavy metals and dioxin), to make roads.

19. Even if the proposed "recycling" schemes involve some form of legitimate recycling, this type of trade, if condoned, represents a grave loophole through which huge volumes of poisons can be allowed to move across boundaries and endanger the health and environment of the receiving country. Unless there are provisions for repatriation of the residual waste following reprocessing, which there very seldom are, the transboundary movement of hazardous wastes for recycling or recovery must always be recognized as including transboundary movement for final disposal. This is due to the fact that nothing can ever be recycled to 100% and thus the residual material will be dumped on the receiving territory.

20. The problems inherent to the transboundary movement of hazardous waste for recycling are outlined below:

Toxic Residue

21. Nothing can be recycled to 100%. Very often the residual material constitutes the greater and more hazardous part of the original material following the reprocessing. Most recovered products in the recycling industry are not the toxic elements of the waste stream. For example steel wastes which are recycled to recover non-ferrous metals often contain dangerous quantities of toxic heavy metals and dioxins which remain on the receiving territory.

Dirty Industry

22. Waste moves primarily for economic reasons. The movement from North to South is often caused by cheaper labour, capital costs, liability, insurance costs, etc. These price differentials are often indicative of much less stringent labour or environmental protection laws. In other words, wastes are often recycled in poorer countries because industry is allowed to be dirtier there. Thus dirty industries are allowed to exploit workers and the environment because of an obvious shortage and need for foreign exchange.

Opens Loophole

23. By permitting any opportunity to ship wastes that are designated for recycling or deemed a secondary raw material, an enormous loophole is allowed, through which waste traders can ship a wide variety of dangerous substances misrepresented as "fertilizer, road oil, building materials", etc. This presents an important problem for enforcement and places the burden of proof of toxicity on the enforcing government.

Absolves Waste Generators

24. The transboundary movement of wastes for the purposes of recycling can be used as an excuse by generators to absolve themselves of responsibility for the later effects of the hazardous materials. When legally viewed as "secondary raw materials" or "for recycling or recovery industries", toxic wastes are too often exempted (as in the Basel Convention) from the requirements for ensuring the availability of "adequate technical capacity or suitability." Even if strict liability is imposed on the generator, from a practical perspective there is little to ensure that a judgement can be enforced against a foreign generator.

Allows Risky Transportation

25. The transportation of such materials involves hazards to dock and ship workers, processing plant workers, and the environments of the transit areas and ultimate disposal site of the residues. In a recent case in Brazil involving metal waste, 20 ship workers were hospitalized after shifting a cargo of hazardous waste on its ship.

A Disincentive for Waste Minimization

26. The Basel Convention recognized, and it is widely accepted, that we must "ensure that the transboundary movement of hazardous wastes and other wastes is reduced to a minimum consistent with the environmentally sound and efficient management of such wastes." In addition,

27. Basel obliged its parties to "ensure that the generation of hazardous wastes and other wastes within it is reduced to a minimum..."

28. Shipping wastes for recycling is often another way to avoid the responsibility to minimize the waste at the source of generation. By avoiding this responsibility in order to enhance profits, such movement creates a disincentive to introduce non-polluting, or less wasteful technologies.